I woke to the sound of adversity. Sophie was throwing up. Discouragement nipped at my heels. I am in a season of pressing in for His promises. And yet, it feels like all hell has broken loose. On this week of Joe’s 49th birthday, our celebrations have been accompanied by sickness and pain of all sorts. While cleaning out the shed this past weekend, Joe’s lower back pulled out of whack. He’s still limping. This, in the midst of believing big for healing in his neck. Courtney texted Sunday for prayer as she headed to urgent care. Though she tested negative for strep and flu, she’s still battling fever and sickness. Grandson, Gavin, succumbed to a stomach virus on Monday. Last night, Sophie’s BFF, Allie took sick. The sound of Sophie wretching this morning tipped my scales. Other issues are too numerous to list. Suffice to say that I’ve had enough of the stinking devil. In the words of my good friend, Laura: “I hate that guy!” But I am quickly reminded that my thoughts, time, and energy need not be on him and his tactics. I’m reminded to feed on God’s goodness, to feed on Truth. In the words of Jessie Duplantis: “I ain’t got time for that fool!”

This morning, though, I nearly lost my Koolaid. Joe woke me a second time to inform me that Cammie was throwing up. I followed with my own spew of vile frustration and pointed him to the Phenergan. In all my muttering I failed to hear him correct himself. He had a case of mistaken identity—Sophie was in the bathroom for round two. Before I wandered into the kitchen to prepare to get Gavin off to school, still muttering with earplugs in my ears, mind you, Joe sent me back to bed to rest in between rounds. I had had it. You’ve been there? Holy Spirit, help! I whispered while Sophie nestled in bed with me. Then I closed my eyes and began proclaiming every promise in the Word of God that came to mind. David encouraged himself in the Lord. And so did I.

Hours later I woke while Sophie slept off her Phenergan. I quieted my soul before the Lord. He gently reminded me of a very sweet time I’d had with Him yesterday. “Wasn’t I here in your kitchen with you?” Yes. Yes, He was. “Write it down,” He said. I smiled. Ah, yes, Habakkuk 2:2. And so I did.

I had invited Him to join me in my kitchen. That’s not uncommon. I often pull a chair out for Him. It’s a purposeful invitation, a symbol of my desire to commune with Him. This time I did something almost comical. I pulled two dessert saucers from my China and topped them each with a serving of Joe’s birthday sugar-free Mississippi Mud. Can you see it? I’m grinning from ear to ear, about to start the Keurig, and He says He won’t be needing coffee. The Lord of Glory told me He didn’t need coffee. He’s hilarious. Ultimately, my Keurig jammed and made the biggest mess EVER. Why is it that the Keurig chooses to jam when I have company?! But He didn’t need coffee and apparently, I didn’t either. You don’t leave the Lord of Glory waiting at the table to dine while you clean out your Keurig. I would have tea. I sat at my table eating dessert while having the sweetest time with Jesus. In between bites, I nodded at His plate and asked, “You gonna’ eat my food?”

“Are you going to eat My food,” He asked.

“What food in particular,” Lord? “Your Word is my bread. But what in particular?”

Immediately the Words came, sweeter than my dessert. And you should know, it’s delightfully sweet and doesn’t taste sugar-free at all. Still, His Words are always sweeter than the best chocolate. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. {Psalm 23:6} I spoke the Words out loud. I smiled, laughed, cried. Indeed, I would eat His food! I remembered that He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. My food is my fight! As I proclaimed the Words out loud, I scraped the chocolate and whipped cream bits from my plate and I ate. It truly is sweet to taste and see that the Lord is good. He was feeding me the very Words about His heart for me, His goodness. He was equipping me for battle. Then I asked Him again if He would eat my food.

“I have meat to eat that you know not of,” He said. And I remembered the woman at the well. In John 4, the disciples had gone to buy food while Jesus sat at the well with a woman thirsty for far more than water. He gave her what she hadn’t known she needed—Living Waters. The disciples returned later with food saying, “Master, eat.” {John 4:31} When Jesus told them He had meat to eat that they knew not of, they asked if someone brought Him food. In verse 34, He tells them that His meat is to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work. Jesus had been fed by feeding the woman at the well, by giving her Living Waters. As she received from Him, she satisfied Him. She fed the very Bread from Heaven. How incredibly marvelous?!

On a December afternoon in my kitchen, I, too, fed Him. As I fed on His Word, I received His Life. And I fed Him. I sat fully satisfied as if I’d had far more than dessert, smiling. The silver-trimmed white saucer still held the neatly cut square of dessert in front of Jesus’ chair. Yet He sat fully satisfied too. I had just fed the Lord of Glory. How! Incredibly! Marvelous! His dessert then stared back at me like a 3D image. Across the table was a gift bagged candle for my neighbor Kathy whose birthday was yesterday. I scooped the Lord’s Mississippi Mud into a container along with an extra piece for Kathy’s husband. And I prepared to feed my neighbor.

The Lord had prepared me yesterday with food for my fight. The 23rd Psalm is a beautiful picture of Divine Providence in His Presence, Provision, Preparation, and Protection. The word prepare in verse 5 comes from a Hebrew root {transliteration arak} meaning to arrange or set in order with a strong implication of preparation as for battle. Our food is our fight. In the face of adversity, when it seems as though an onslaught has been launched against us, it’s easy to succumb to discouragement. Swiftly, discouragement turns to frustration; frustration compels us to weariness and defeat. So how do we overcome? The blood and the Word, says Revelation 12:11. Jesus has already won our victory. And so we continue to stand, declaring and proclaiming Truth right in the face of the circumstances, right in the midst of the battle. We believe; therefore we speak. We proclaim His Word and we feed on it. This is how we fight our battles. We feed on Truth. And in so doing, we feed Him. We feed Jesus, the Lord of Glory.